Bernard J. Durkan
Question:85 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of NGOs with which his Department co-operates; if he anticipates any changes in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25773/99]
Written Answers. - Overseas Development Aid.
The Department co-operates with a wide variety of Irish, international and indigenous NGOs as well as Irish missionary orders active in humanitarian relief assistance and development. Support for projects is provided under three main funding programmes. These are the NGO co-financing scheme, human rights and democratisation, and emergency relief and rehabilitation assistance. The Department intends to continue funding in these areas in partnership with NGOs.
As funding under these programmes is project-based, the number of NGOs with which the Department co-operates will vary from year to year. A full list of NGOs and projects funded in 1998 is contained in Annexes 12, 20 and 23 of the Irish Aid Annual Report and a copy of the report is being provided separately to the Deputy.
The Human Rights Unit of the Department is in regular touch with a wide range of human rights NGOs for the purpose of exchanges of views on current issues. A more formal mechanism for exchanges of views on policy matters is the joint DFA-NGO Standing Committee on Human Rights. This committee meets between three and four times a year and the following NGOs are currently represented on it: Amnesty International; GOAL; Dóchas; Trócaire; Irish Council for Civil Liberties; Irish Commission for Justice and Peace; Banúlacht; Concern; East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign; Kurdistan Solidarity Ireland.
The term of membership of the committee is two years and the representatives of Oxfam, UNICEF and the Irish Missionary Union have recently stepped down. NGOs also attend the committee in anad hoc capacity to participate in discussion of issues of particular interest to them.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has for many years paid an annual grant-in-aid to the Irish United Nations Association – IUNA – which provides a valuable information service to members of the public on the UN and its activities. The Department also co-operates with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines – ICBL-Pax Christi Ireland is the Irish chapter – and with the Middle Powers Initiative – MPI – in the area of nuclear disarmament.
Bernard J. Durkan
Question:86 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has satisfied himself with the degree to which the UN receives co-operation from its various members with particular reference to assistance towards meeting budgetary requirements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25774/99]
The financial crisis which has affected the United Nations for a number of years now is primarily the result of the failure of certain member states, notably the United States, to pay their assessed contributions to the UN regular and peacekeeping budgets in full and on time in accordance with their obligations under the charter. Ireland and its EU partners have strenuously argued that all UN member states must honour their financial obligations.
The US is the major debtor, owing roughly two-thirds of the total arrears due to the United Nations and any improvement in its arrears situation would ease the situation considerably. During my visit to the UN General Assembly in September, I joined my EU colleagues in raising the matter with Secretary of State Albright. The United States administration has very recently put forward a plan agreed with Congress to deal with the arrears problem. While the repayment amount proposed in the plan is substantially less than the total arrears owed by the US, negotiations on the matter are under way at the United Nations.